From Me to You
by Freida Right
Summary: Edge had never expected Palom, of all people, to turn our so much like him. But, as long as the kid's outlook on girls is forever changing, the ninja has plenty of advice to pass along. By special request from mythweaver1. ;D
1. The Beginning

Finally, getting my mind out of the gutter and back to my original flame! What it is about me and fraternal twins, I swear I will never know. :P

This epic little series is all thanks to mythweaver1, and our mutual love of Edge and Rydia. However, this is all about Edge and, um… Palom, for a change. Female relationships, and all—goofballs gotta stick together.

Enjoy!

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_From Me to You_

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It had been more than a year since all nine of them had been in a room together. So many of the Light Warriors had suddenly become kings and queens after the war, only to discover how many problems had to be fixed around the Blue Planet. Each of them had their own kingdoms to look to, and so many of them had to be rebuilt from the ground up. In all the fixing-up that had taken place, it seemed they had partially forgotten about each other.

Being the secretive ninja that he was, Edge was certain he would have remained that way while he looked after his dwindling people. He would have been perfectly happy, secluded in the Eblanese islands; it was instinct to him. To be summoned back to the main continent so suddenly had been a little jarring. And to Baron, no less. Who did Cecil think he was? King of the whole world?

But it was good to see everyone in one place again. Seeing all these familiar faces… Wow, had they changed. Most of them that had gathered had started their journey as mere boys—Edge wasn't afraid to admit it. In spite of his serious skills as a ninja, he had been a proud, free-swinging tomcat before. Cecil had always been a fairly capable leader; the role of King suited him well. But he had been thrust into it so young, it had still seemed a little big for him. And that Edward—that harp-strumming pansy—was so timid and weak, he had made Edge feel sort of sick at first.

But that year and a few months had changed all three of them. Edge supposed that so much responsibility would change any boy into a man. How quickly Cecil had grown into his kingship; it fit him like a glove, now. Even Edward, doomed to walk on a cane for the rest of his life, sickly health and all, was older and wiser than before.

Good lord. Edge barely recognized them anymore. Neither of his fellows had cut their hair, though. Cecil still had the glorious mane of a lion, pure white as the very moon his father had come from. And Edward's golden hair fell in naturally perfect cascades over his shoulders like an angel. Edge found it nothing but suspect; where he came from, hair like _that_ would have marked a man as a shady, no-good outsider, involved in some kind of horrible crime, most like as not. Why it was hailed in the rest of the world, he wasn't sure.

He wished his friends would cut their hair to a respectable length like his own. He couldn't help but think that his friends looked like street thugs, which then made him want to laugh out loud at them. But at least it gave him something to recognize them by.

The only members of the summit who hadn't seemed to have changed were the children. There were only three of them, and they were still only… Well, children. It was insane to think that seven-year-old kids had been involved enough to be Light Warriors at all. But they had somehow made all the difference.

There was Luca, the dwarf princess, first of all. Without a doubt, she was the smallest of all present. Edge wasn't sure exactly if she officially qualified as a Light Warrior, though she had been among the number praying in Mysidia during the final battle on the moon. The main reason Luca was here was that her father was a dear and more important ally. Also, she was a little cutie; everyone who had spent time in the Underworld was glad to see her. Even Edge was happy to see her again.

The twins, however, he knew for sure were qualified to be here for themselves. He didn't know Palom and Porom very well, but he was aware of everything they had done, and everything they were capable of. Already, he understood, they were studying the outer layers of the higher leveled spells—the –Ga and –Ja series that other skilled mages normally didn't tuck into until their teens. Edge didn't fully understand their Mysidian magic, as he understood his Eblanese ninjutsu; but he knew enough to know that such progress was impressive, to say the least.

Still, they had just turned seven years old. They were abnormally advanced and knowledgeable about their craft, and they were rightfully proud; even proper, modest Porom was pleased with her recent accomplishments. But they were only kids, and never seemed to think much about acting so. Sometimes they attempted to be grown up, like everyone else around them… But it never lasted. They always ended up back where they were meant to be—laughing, playing, and bickering like brothers and sisters do.

None of the others had brothers or sisters to bicker with like that. Edge found the twin's antic amusing. Especially because they weren't _his_ kids, and he could watch from a safe distance.

The other thing that Edge could _really_ appreciate about this summit was that Rydia was here. It was wild—there had been a rather long stretch of time where she consumed most of his waking thoughts. Her magic was so intense, so unusual, and she had such a mastery over it. She was exceptionally strong and clever, and still so beautiful. She was the type of woman that he could see ruling a kingdom. Perhaps, doing so by his side…?

And then he hadn't seen her for a very long time. The last time they had met, they had come to Baron for the wedding of their two best friends. Edge had thought it would be funny and flirtatious to play hard-to-get with her then, but that had been then. He had still been a boy inside, and Rydia had outgrown him while they had been apart. She had taken his flirting as an insult, and hadn't talked to him since. Now that he had also grown up a little, he didn't blame her. Damn, why hadn't he said something constructive, instead of acting like a stupid schoolboy?

He returned home after the wedding and got back to the hard work of restoring his kingdom to its former glory. In the responsibility and stress that it took to do so, he had found himself thinking of Rydia less and less. That had been a shame, but he had more important things to worry about than a girl he was sure would never speak to him again. Still, he found her on his mind a lot.

But there she was, dressed in the robes of a high mage, glistening like the star she had always been in his eyes. Where had she been, all this time? What had she been up to? He had asked around, but no one else knew, either. There were vague ideas that she had been in the ruins of Mist, the village where she had lived as a child, trying to rebuild it. But no one knew for sure.

The best way to find out how she had been was to walk up to her and ask, he supposed. He tried to steal upon her, like a shadow in the night—but her senses were too sharp, and she caught him right away.

"Are you still trying to play pranks on me, after all this time?" she asked coolly.

He raised an eyebrow at her, impressed. "You would make a fair ninja," he commented. "You've managed to elude everyone for the past year or so. It would seem that you've vanished."

She smiled calmly into her drink and sighed contentedly. "I've been travelling the Blue Planet by myself," she answered. "Maybe it was only a few months for everyone else, but I truly did spend ten years in the Feymarch, in an artificial world. It was accurate enough, I suppose… But when I returned to the Overworld, everything was so much clearer. I felt like I didn't know it anymore. I wanted to get to know it again."

"So, you've just been wandering around?"

"Pretty much."

"Have you ever thought of settling down? The rest of us miss you. We'd like to know where to find you."

"Wow."

"What?"

"That was the grossest misuse of the royal 'we' I have ever heard."

"Can I hide nothing from you anymore?"

"You never particularly tried to hide from me in the first place."

Touché.

"Anyway," she continued, "I don't really have a place to settle down yet."

"Any one of the Light Warriors would welcome you. Have you been back to your village?"

Rydia sadly shook her head. "That's the one place I just can't go yet…"

"In your travels, you haven't made it to Eblan yet, have you? I would have heard about it."

"Eblan is very far away, Edge. I don't have the means to make such a long trip. And I've spent enough time in the shadow of that blasted tower, thank you."

"Oh… There still isn't much there, I suppose. Reconstruction has been difficult. I've had advisors to assist me, but I'm still on my own. I'm not free like you've been."

"It's probably been good for you."

"Yeah… I guess it has been."

"If you need help, you're in a room full of other kings who would be happy to help you. I'm just a lone Summoner with no home and almost no money. There's not much I can do for you."

"Well, there is something, actually, if you'd be willing—"

He was going to invite her to return with him, give her leave to stay a while, perhaps help him with his work. But, once again, he had used the wrong attitude, and she took his meaning the wrong way. Before he could finish speaking, she threw the rest of her drink in his face with a furious scowl.

"You're so stupid," she growled as she stalked away.

"Rydia! That's not what I was going to say!" he yelled after her. He tried to follow, but the sweet, spicy wine stung his eyes and blinded him slightly. To have his keen sight impaired so easily was embarrassing enough. Worse, he could hear half the people in the room laughing at him—especially Cid, was probably laughing hard enough to cry.

If it had been anyone else, Edge would have been laughing, as well. But it was _him_, and it aggravated him. Wiping the wine out of his eyes, he left the room as stealthily as he could with everyone's attention on him. Not far from them, he found an empty balcony and stepped out into the warm afternoon air. Ug, that woman really was the definition of a rose—rare and beautiful half the time, and nothing but a thorn the other half. Why did she have to be so difficult?

He stood on the balcony for a while, letting the warm air and sunshine dry his face. Being surrounded by such nature was always calming to him, even in this foreign land that he knew so little about. He stayed still, looking over the land with a calm smile on his face. Baron hadn't been scathed at all in the mess of the war, and it was beautiful. And Eblan would return to the same glory, in time. He just knew it.

Suddenly, his senses detected a presence behind him—small and non-threatening, but surrounded by mischief. He turned to look and saw Palom—of all people—standing behind him, looking at him quizzically. The boy sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Girls are pretty icky, huh?"

Well. That was actually very insightful. Edge had never imagined children could be wise, simply by making innocent observations. He had heard old sayings about it, but he had never really known what it meant. Amused, he smiled.

"Your twin sister is a girl," he pointed out.

Palom made an annoyed face and marched up beside Edge. "She's having some dumb girly-talk with Luca. She's always leaving me outta stuff!" he complained, leaning against the balcony railing as if he owned it.

"You must really think you're something, kid."

"I _am_ really something. I'm the great Palom, black mage prodigy extraordinaire, _and_ Light Warrior! I really died, you know."

"Yes, so I've heard. How exactly does that work?"

"When you cast spells on yourself and really mean it, weird things happen. If you ever think about casting the Break spell on yourself, don't do it, okay?"

"Okay… Gotcha, kid."

"So, you're a ninja, huh? I've heard you ninja can use really _weird_ magic. What's it like?"

"It's a lot to do with being calm, at peace with yourself, and in tune with the world around you."

"Sounds harder than my magic. Sometimes, I need to be angry and not at peace at all to cast a good black spell. That's what black magic is all about."

"Only if that's what you believe it is about."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

In that moment, Palom suddenly reminded Edge very much of himself, when he had been a child. What a marvelously hoity-toity attitude the boy possessed. There was a mighty will in him, a refusal to be moved, an unsinkable-ness that would carry him far and through many trials. And a self-assurance in his own abilities that he already knew, he would spend the rest of his life living up to, proving that his big talk wasn't cheap.

Palom would grow up to be quite a man, one day. He would probably turn out a lot like Edge, which made the ninja smile. He felt a strange connection to the boy, now that he saw so much of himself reflected in him. And Palom seemed to feel it, as well.

"So, can you teach me about our magic?" Palom asked.

Edge laughed and tousled Palom's hair. "Stick to your own magic," he advised, noting with approval how short the kid's chestnuts hair was. Except for a single lock that reached his shoulder, intricately braided with tiny charms and a silk cord. But that was a special, symbolic thing; Edge wasn't sure what that meant, either. But it had a meaning, and he would abide by that.

Palom gave him a smirk. "You're a pretty cool guy, just like me. There aren't a lot of people as awesome as me back home—mostly, it's just me and Porom. It can be lonely, sometimes."

"Wow, do I understand that."

"I sure hope that when I get bigger, I'm as cool and awesome as you."

That was the highest compliment Edge had gotten in a while. "If you insist; but it will only get lonelier."

"I'll handle it. I kicked death's butt. Loneliness is like a bug to me, now! As long as I've got my sister hanging around, I guess I'll be okay."

Edge nodded slowly and stared off at the landscape again, feeling very peaceful, indeed.

"If you can handle that loneliness, I guess that I can, as well."

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Author's Notes…

This will get a little more fun in the coming chapters. I just had to set the stage. Also, thanks to myth for helping me figure out a title for this. ;)


	2. Tip 1

Tip #1: Love is like a viral epidemic, and the only known cures are death and marriage. Sometimes, death is preferable…

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I hadn't gotten to know the kids much during the war, and then pretty much forgot about them after I went home. Even when we had reunited for the wedding, I hardly noticed them. Now that I was chilling out with Palom, I couldn't believe that I had missed him so easily. He had been six and seven years old then; now, he and his twin were less than a month shy of turning eight. Maybe his presence had gotten bigger since then? He was still just a kid, but he acted like he dominated the room.

"So," he said to me, "I guess you've missed everyone, huh?"

"I have, a little."

"I'll bet you missed _me_ the most."

That sounded like something I would say.

"I'll bet _you_ missed _me_ the most," I counted coolly.

"Nah. It's Cecil I've missed the most. Or maybe it's Rydia—she's nice… Nope, it's definitely Cecil."

I rolled my eyes. What could I have expected?

"I've missed her a lot, too."

Palom looked up at me with a quizzical expression. "Why do you like her so much? She's just a _girl_. They aren't that great." He looked off across the room, where Porom and Luca were chatting it up as if they were sisters, and he snorted petulantly.

"All they do is sit around and talk about dresses and dolls and stuff. They never want to go off on adventures and do cool stuff or anything. Girls are _so_ boring!"

"How do you know that? You never bothered asking them."

"I hung around with them for a while, and that's all they did. They didn't even notice when I left. Me! They should feel honored that I even tried!"

"I know that feeling. Don't you give your sister any credit? She went off adventuring with you, back then… And you were only six."

"She doesn't do much now."

I considered this and sighed. "I guess you're right. Still, many of the ladies in this room went through a lot of adventuring. Even Luca helped, a little."

"Who's side are you on? I thought we agreed that girls are icky!"

"I'm on _my_ side, kid."

Palom looked kind of disappointed. "You're sure different from how I remember you. You used to be all cool and stuff."

"Watch it. I'm still cool. I've just had a lot more to do than you have."

"I had to sit still and learn all the –Ja level spells this year. What the heck did _you_ have to do?"

"I have a whole kingdom to rebuild, and—wait a minute. Did you say –Ja level?"

"Yeah."

"…Well alright, then. So, no grand adventures for you, recently?"

"No. I'll bet you go off on adventures all the time."

"Not anymore. I've had to sit still for a while, myself."

Maybe we understood each other a little better, after that moment of confusion. A silence passed while he thought of another question.

"So, what is it about girls that you _don't_ find so icky?"

"After a while, they stop seeming so icky, I guess. Actually, there comes a point in every guy's life where they start seeming pretty great."

"How's that?" Palom asked, unable to fathom such a thing.

"It's difficult to explain. It's still kind of far off for you."

"That's a relief. You're so cool and awesome until Rydia shows up. Then you always start acting stupid and try to make her like you, too."

"Do I really look stupid?"

"Have you ever seen yourself? I hope that doesn't happen to me for the rest of my life."

Such brutal honesty. I wasn't sure if I appreciated it or was offended. I decided to counter by also being brutally honest. I reached over the table and tousled his hair.

"Are you kidding? A good-looking guy like you? I'll bet the ladies love you!"

"Ew! Gross! Stop it!" he cried in alarm, pushing me away.

"You're half-way there, you lucky kid."

"I said stop it! How do I fix it?"

"You can't fix it. It always happens to girls first."

"What does?" he asked nervously.

"_The dreaded crush_!" I teased.

"There isn't a cure?"

As if it were some sort of lethal epidemic. Which I supposed it could very well be. This would be an excellent way to explain it to a stubborn six-year-old like Palom.

"Let me put it this way: have you ever caught a cold?"

"It stinks," he agreed, nodding his head with a rueful scowl.

"You know it. You can try all you want to avoid it, but it's a virus. It's always out there, waiting to sneak up on you when you're least expecting it. Sometimes, there's no stopping it. You can stay healthy and strong, and do everything you can to keep from catching it… But sometimes, you don't catch a cold—it catches you."

"I hate it when that happens."

"Well, crushes are just like that," I said with a grand gesture. "They're always out there, waiting to hit you in the face, and then you're infected. And then, there's nothing you can do but wait for it to run its course. Sometimes it goes by faster than other times, but there is no cure. Well, there are two."

"What are they? Tell me!" he demanded, desparate .

"Death is one of them. Usually by ripping your own heart out of your chest."

Palom looked at me blankly, mildly horrified, and said, "Tell me the other one."

"The other cure can be worse—marriage."

"What so much worse about that? Cecil and Rosa are married, and they seem pretty happy. Yang and Cid are married, too. And you had parents, so they must have been married. Nah, ripping your own heart out sounds _way_ worse."

I laughed shortly. "Can't someone's parents _not_ be married to each other?"

"Um, _no_," he answered, as if I had said something ridiculous and insane.

I should probably save that discussion for when he turned 16, at least, I decided.

"Yeah, well, that's what crushes are like," I concluded. "They are everywhere, they will always catch you when you are trying the hardest not to catch them, and it sucks."

"Well, you've caught a pretty nasty one, ninja. Just don't let me catch it from you, or I'll zap you with Thundara."

"It is a pretty bad crush, yeah," I admitted sullenly, not sure why I was confiding in a child, but amused that he was listening and grasping the concept.

"Think it's bad enough to rip your heart out over?"

"It feels like it right now. Alas, I have a kingdom to return to, and no one to pick up where I left it, if I die."

"So go for plan B. Ask Rydia to marry you, and get it over with. If she says yes, you'll be cured! If she says no, you can still kill yourself, I guess."

"That's the hard part. It's not always that easy."

Palom shrugged. "Sounds easy enough to me. Look, I'll show you." He jumped out of his chair and ran up to where Porom and Luca were still chatting. As he walked away, I felt someone lurking behind me. I turned around to see Cecil hovering over me.

"Enjoying yourself, Edge?" he asked with a teasing grin.

"It's not like a paladin to lurk behind people, or eavesdrop on their conversations," I answered. "And for humanity's sake, cut your hair!"

He shook his snowy hair off his shoulders like a lion shakes its mane. "I like it this way. And, anyway, it pleases my queen," he countered suavely.

"Whatever," I growled, never approving. I looked back to what Palom was doing, and saw him talking to Luca. Oh, I knew what he was doing…

"So, I see you've made a new friend," Cecil noted. "The twins are something, huh?"

"I wouldn't know about Porom; I haven't spoken to her before. But I guess I kind of like Palom. He's a lot like me."

"Oh dear god in heaven…"

"What?"

"The Blue Planet can only handle one Edge at a time."

"With any luck, he'll turn out serious and smart, just like me. And he sure won't let his hair get wild like yours."

"You're insane. And here we all were, wondering if your mission to rebuild Eblan had grown you up at all."

"It has!"

"You still seem like the Edge Geraldine we all know and love."

"Well, you're still the Cecil Harvey we all know and love. You've barely changed either; but then, you were probably born this dignified."

"Lunarian blood. You can't top that," he answered with a shrug.

Meanwhile, Luca was now laughing so hard that she nearly doubled over. Porom gave her brother a disbelieving look, and smacked him for good measure. Palom shrugged and trotted back over.

"See? She said no. It's that easy," he explained, rubbing his head where Porom had smacked him. "Oh, hi, Cecil. When did you get here?"

The paladin chuckled and regarded him for a moment. "I don't know what Edge is telling you, but you should probably just ignore him."

"But we were talking about girls and how icky they are!" Palom whined.

Cecil looked back at me with one eyebrow raised. "Is that so? You didn't seem to think so when you got wine thrown in your face."

I couldn't help the humiliated blush that crept into my face, and was glad that my cowl hid it so well. I would never live this down…

"You've really got to make up your mind," he continued, taking his leave. "If you don't hurry, someone else will get her while you're at war with yourself."

Palom and I watched him walk off for a moment. How did he do that? He was so mature and responsible and manly. I was a confident guy, but Cecil was confident, as well, and so effortlessly. He still had that way of making me feel like a petty little boy, foiled again by my whimsy and flightiness. But not Cecil Harvey, the king—he had mastered that long before I had even been aware of it in myself.

Palom looked back up at me and said, "I don't know why you think she's so great like _that_ and all; but if you really like Rydia so much, you should go for it."

"You think so?"

"I don't get it, but you really, _really_ like her. If you want her so bad, I don't' know why a cool, smart ninja like you doesn't just go _get_ her."

"Palom, you know the most frightening thing about catching a crush?"

"Oh… What is it?"

"You know how a cold feels terrible and you can't wait for it to end? Crushes are different. Having a crush feels _amazing_, and you hope that it never ends. When it does eventually pass, you just feel depressed."

"That sounds really freaky."

"It is. Just thinking about some people fills you up, and makes you all warm inside. It makes you feel, just… happy. Thinking about her, _looking_ at her—it makes me so happy. Like, I always think I know how to be happy; but then there she is, and I realize that I don't know a thing about what happiness is."

I barely realized I was speaking anymore, and I had definitely lost Palom somewhere along the line.

"Now you're just acting stupid again," he commented. "But if it's true and she makes you feel so happy, then marry her, already. You'll never have to be away from her again, and you'll always feel happy, and you won't babble like a little girl to me about it."

I gave him a small smirk that I knew he couldn't see, but hoped he could get a hint of. "Everything is for your sole benefit, huh?"

"If I can get it. If no one's going to help me, I should help myself."

I couldn't help but laugh out loud, amused to my very core. "You're going to be just fine, kid. Actually, I think you'll turn out a lot like me."

In spite of how stupid I sounded before, Palom gave me a big smile. "You can't go wrong with that! I always hoped I could grow up to be like you!"

That spirit was inspiring. Maybe there was only room for one Edge at a time. Now, I supposed it was Palom's turn; because I had something very important and very grown up to do.

That night, after the children were in bed, I went for a walk in the castle gardens, knowing that Rydia would be there, somewhere. She had mentioned in our travels, that of all the things she had missed in the Feymarch, she had missed real nature the most. The unnatural plane could artificially simulate the Overworld, and very well; but she always said that it wasn't the same, and something she had never gotten used to.

Which must have been very frustrating for her, because she had a natural affinity for nature. Her gentle, nurturing spirit, and her very appearance was like that of a wood nymph—her very element was wood, after all. I had never known her to miss a chance to soak up the world around her. I had seen her stroll through fields behind the rest of us, wander through forests while we stuck to marked paths, string flowers into her thick hair until it looked like a blossoming meadow.

Just thinking about it—images I remembered of her from our adventure—made my heart thump uncomfortably in my chest, and I considered forgetting the whole thing. Nothing was worth this sort of needless comfort… Right?

But my brain kept me moving forward through the garden, looking for her. Maybe the fact that my brain was egging me on, shushing my fleeting feelings, was a sign that I was on the right track this time.

At last, I spied her ahead of me, her green locks a dead giveaway. She had abandoned her mage's robes in exchange for a light, plain dress of white linen—an unusual sight, for I had only ever seen her in shades of green and gold. She looked alarmingly normal, almost attainable. She stood quietly by herself before a little rose bush, one of the right red blossoms in hand, inhaling the strong fragrance as if she drew some sort of ethereal power from it.

She smiled benevolently on the rose, fully appreciating all that it was. She was completely at home.

So when she sensed me coming behind her and faced me, she didn't look very pleased.

"Why do you always have to sneak up on me?" she demanded.

"I wanted to apologize for earlier," I answered, ignoring her question. "I phrased that poorly. I was trying to ask if you would come to Eblan, to help me rebuild my kingdom. I could use the help of a good friend."

She kept up her poker face and asked, "Is that all? Nothing else you'd like from me?"

Oh, there was plenty more I wanted from her. But saying so out loud would have been idiotic. Next, I'd end up with a face full of briar thorns, for sure. One step at a time…

"Yes, that is all," I agreed, holding my hands professionally behind my back.

She regarded me silently for a moment, and then sighed.

"I suppose I haven't been to Eblan yet; few people have. That is… quite an invitation. How could I pass it up?" she mused, stroking the rose's soft petals.

Well, how about that. It really _had_ been that simple. Palom would be so proud of me, and so disappointed…

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Author's Notes…

Growing up? Nah… Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to take a break from fic and work on my homework. :P


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